This disclosure relates generally to social networking, and in particular to creating targeting criteria for advertisements using a search for objects in a social graph to define the targeting criteria.
Advertisers use social networking systems to deliver targeted advertisements (“ads”) to users of the social networking system. In many cases, the extent to which an ad reaches a target group of users depends on the targeting criteria used to identify the target group. For example, to serve an ad promoting a newly released single for a new jazz vocalist from Portland, Oreg., advertisers may specify the following targeting criteria—male and females ages 26-30, interest in jazz, interest in the new jazz vocalist, and hometown somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
Applying these targeting criteria, the social networking system identifies a set of users, and serves the ad. Specifying and applying targeting criteria in this manner, however, limits the reach of an ad by only specifying user characteristic. Without leveraging other information logged by the social networking system to target ads, social networking systems limit the ability of advertisers to extend the reach of ads to a larger group of users.